


Forbearance

by Cluegirl



Series: Endless Meddling [1]
Category: Harry Potter - Rowling, Vertigo (Comics)
Genre: Crossover, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-06-24
Updated: 2010-06-24
Packaged: 2017-10-10 06:24:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/96598
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cluegirl/pseuds/Cluegirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Death of the Endless is finding Tom Riddle troublesome. One night in Godric's Hollow will change all that, she hopes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Forbearance

She had a lot to do in London these days, and not all of it was harvesting, either. Tom Riddle and his crew were keeping her busy with their endless deal-making and spell-weaving. Like mice nibbling at her toes while she worked, these Death Eaters were getting hard to ignore. In ages past she would not have given them a second thought, for mankind had been seeking ways to escape her grasp for as long as they'd known Death was possible, hadn't they? And none, in all that time, had actually managed it, save those few (two, in fact) from whom she willingly stayed her hand. Hence the term; Endless.

But... Her brother was Endless as well, and a mortal man had worked out how to capture Dream, hadn't he? Compelled the most subtle of the Endless to seventy years of imprisonment while his own realm and obligations limped along unguided. And Tom Riddle was actually cleverer than Roderick Burgess had been -- cleverer and more powerful. When Riddle told his followers to find him a copy of the Magdalene Grimoire... well, even she began to worry a bit.

She caught herself rehearsing what she would say to the man when the moment came, even though she knew she'd never use those lines. That was Destiny's style, or Dream's, not her own. But the little roleplayings, herself against that just-a-little-less-than-mortal coil were a comfort to her whenever she found herself once again harvesting lives in the baleful green light of the glittering snake-and-skull. It happened all too often those days, and to be frank, it was rather getting on her nerves.

And it was in that green light that Death first spotted her answer. And her answer's name was Lily.

"Wow," the girl was marvelling, staring at the sky through the column of smoke that poured up from the Dearborne house, "the moon's so bright..." Her legs were pinned beneath a flat-blasted oak, her blood emptying into the mossy earth below.

Death crouched down beside her, stroked the flame-red hair off her brow. "Pretty, isn't it?" she said, drawing the dialated eyes to her face, "You're not in pain, are you Lily?"

She shook her head, and a glimmer of fear flickered through that thin rind of green. "No. That's bad though, isn't it? Doesn't that mean I'm going to..." she swallowed. Death understood. Most people had trouble saying her name in her presence.

"You're dying, Lily, yes. Others are on their way to save you, but they'll be too late." She hesitated. There weren't _rules,_ exactly, but there were ways in which Things Were Done. And if she did this... well, it rather went against them, didn't it? _Rather like trapping the King of Dreams in a prison of glass and paint goes against the Way of Things!_ she reminded herself grimly as the green sparks began to fade into the smoke. _If Burgess could hold Dream, then who knows what Riddle could do? I have to act!_

She sat on the ground, rather liking the chill of the dew soaking through her trousers. It was centering in that half-shaky moment. Lily had begun to cry.

"There is something else you ought to know, dear," Death soothed, taking the girl's cold hand in hers, "It's not just you. There's a baby as well, and when you go... well, we'll have to wait just a little bit and collect him as well." Oh, but that tasted bad on her lips! It was Desire's sort of cheap trick, but... but Death could feel in the sudden, convulsive clench of Lily's fingers that it would work.

"I'm..." she gasped, and tried to sit up, "There's a baby?!"

"Shh," Death pressed her shoulder back down, "That'll only speed the bleeding. We have a little time if you lie still and listen."

Lily lay still, and Lily listened, and her eyes grew wide, and her lips grew pale.

"A year?" She whispered at last.

"After the baby's born," Death nodded, stroking the girl's knuckles with her thumb, "But it'll be a year of _knowing._ Imagine how much sweeter that year will be, Lily, imagine how much easier it will be to bear its pains and treasure its joys. I'm giving you something I have never given anyone before."

"A second chance?" Bitter suspicion in those eyes.

_Clever girl,_ Death thought as she shook her head. "A reprieve. A stay. A year and eight months of life borrowed from ... well, you don't need to know from where."

"And in return... I still die. I die and I leave my baby to-"

"To live his own life. But he'll _have_ a life, Lily -- he'll draw breath, and give you a toothless, milky grin as he suckles at your breast, and he'll fill your heart so full of love that you won't know how it keeps from bursting." Death swept a palm over Lily's forehead again. It was cooler now, sheened with sweat. "I can only give you time, Lily -- it's up to you to give him Life."

The green eyes closed. Lily disengaged her hand and brought it trembling to her belly, as though in benediction, or possibly tenative greeting. "And he will destroy Voldemort?"

Death scowled. She hated that name. "He will -- with your help, and a little of mine."

"You'll help him?" Lily's eyes clouded with suspicion again, "If you can help him, then why don't you help someone else? Why don't you do it yourself, and spare the rest of us this-"

"I can't, Lily," she soothed, "because I'm the incarnation of Death, not Destruction. I have a job to do, and the powers I need to get it done, but I'm not a murderer, even when it's richly deserved. The dying isn't under my control, just what comes afterward."

"But I want my baby to be happy," Lily whined, clearly tired, clearly fading.

"You have to give him birth before he can stand a chance at that," Death sighed. Then she leaned close to lay her hand over Lily's, pressing their fingers down just a little into the flat belly which she so hoped to see swell over the coming months. "The time's drawing close, Lily," she warned, "you have to decide now."

"Yes." It was like a prayer gusted softly into the darkness. Death closed her eyes and quelled a shiver. "Only..."

"Only?"

"I don't want to remember you -- this. This bargain. I don't think I could do it if I knew that..." Lily blinked tears out of her eyes, and turned her hand to capture Death's fingers. "And James. Can't you-"

"No more promises, love," she shook her head with a sad smile. "This will be between you and me, and this little one here."

And then the moment was upon them. Lily's eyes went wide and dark, and she drew a sharp, quick breath. But Death's hand was quicker, and she snatched the moment away, folded it up, and tucked it into her pocket for later. Her sigil gleamed, white hot against her breast, then as it got used to the idea, ticked itself cool once more.

_"It is done." _

Death heard her eldest brother's sonorous voice echo across the back of her neck. She smiled. Of course. Destiny wasn't surprised by anything. Which made birthday presents a challenge, of course.

"There," she said aloud, patting their twined hands, "All done. How do you feel?" Lily blinked, then yawned, and Death couldn't help laughing. "Good. Your husband and his friends are nearly here, so I'll just be going-"

"Wait!" Lily clutched her hand, "You said I wouldn't remember..."

She hadn't, actually, but she could certainly see the girl had a right to ask it. She smiled, and leaned close to press a kiss to those nearly-blue lips. A little taste of oblivion -- a drip of the Lethe to smear the night's colours into a neutral hue. As always, the taste of the living was perilously sweet under her tongue, but Death was stronger than Desire, and pulled away with only the smallest breath of regret.

Lily's eyes were closed now, her breath shallow, rapid, but steady. Her heart, though confused, still followed its habitual metre, waiting for the coda Death held in her pocket. She disentangled their fingers, and lay the girl's hand back onto her belly with a pat.

"See you later, Lily. And you too, young sir. I'm counting on you to make this all worthwhile." She stood, stretched her arms over her head as the far-off rumble of a motorcycle echoed across the night. "And don't you worry, either of you -- when the time comes, you'll know what has to be done."


End file.
